[US Presidential Election and Crypto]② Trump Made a Fortune with 'Mugshot'... Will He Benefit from NFT Spillover?

Issued Own Mugshot NFT to Earn $4 Million
Issued NFT Grants Dinner and Video Call Access
Good Business Skills... "Policy Expectations Are Difficult" Concerns Also Raised

Mugshot of former President Trump
[Photo by Yonhap News]

#. In December 2022, former U.S. President Donald Trump's digital trading card collection called 'Mugshot' was launched. The Mugshot collection is a non-fungible token (NFT) based on the mugshot taken in Atlanta in August of that year, when Trump was indicted for election interference in Georgia. The collection was issued with 100,000 cards priced at $99 each. Buyers who purchased 100 NFTs could receive perks such as a dinner with Trump and a video call session. On U.S. online communities like Reddit, ridicule followed with comments like "Only delusional supporters would pour money into such bubblegum cards," and "It's just a jpeg (image file extension) of a bubblegum card, not even the real thing." Despite numerous criticisms, it is estimated that former President Trump earned over $4 million (about 5.3 billion KRW) from issuing NFTs. Within the NFT industry, he was praised as "someone who perfectly understands the NFT market and its mechanisms."

As former U.S. President Trump, once an 'enemy of virtual assets,' transforms into an ally and emerges as a leading candidate for the next presidential election, the NFT industry is buzzing. Since mid-2022, the NFT market, which had been sidelined for about a year and a half, is showing signs of a rebound. However, some analysts argue that the possibility of Trump supporting NFTs through policy as a president rather than as a businessman is limited.

NFT Market, After a Dark Period, Slightly Rebounded at the End of Last Year

According to Dune Analytics, a virtual asset data analysis firm, the NFT trading volume on Opensea, the world's largest NFT marketplace, increased 1.6 times from $77 million (about 10 billion KRW) in September last year, the recent low point, to $128 million (about 17 billion KRW) in January this year. This is still sluggish compared to the all-time high of $3.6 billion in February 2022, two years ago. However, with Bitcoin prices recently surpassing $50,000, boosted by the launch of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), interest in the NFT market, which is closely linked to Bitcoin, is rising again.

Former President Trump's moves in the NFT market are a matter of great attention. Considering his background and entrepreneurial spirit, there is analysis that the NFT market could benefit directly or indirectly if he is re-elected. Trump has issued a total of three NFTs so far. He did not just engage in simple, short-term sales but issued and sold NFTs in a way that attracted attention to himself.

Oh Tae-wan, CEO of INF Crypto Lab, said, "If Trump, who understands and can utilize the NFT market, wins the election or uses NFTs during the election process, the NFT market, which still lacks use cases, could expect indirect benefits." Kim Ji-hye, head of the Zzanggle Research Center, added, "In the past, Trump was considered unfriendly due to his critical policies and opinions on virtual assets. However, recently, by continuously creating Mugshot NFTs and showing a friendlier attitude, the market has developed expectations that if Trump is re-elected, he will propose policies favorable to virtual assets, including NFTs."

On the other hand, there are views that the market's potential to gain a windfall is limited. Kim Min-seung, a research fellow at the Korbit Research Center, said, "Understanding the commercial value and impact of NFTs by the Trump camp and NFTs benefiting from it are different things. Even if Trump is elected, expecting or speculating that he will push NFTs through policy or provide any benefits might be a Korean way of thinking," he pointed out.

"NFTs Must Have Usability to Increase Their Own Competitiveness"

There are calls for NFTs to have usability to fundamentally revitalize the market. This means NFTs should have actual functions or benefits beyond being mere collectibles. A representative case is when a penguin character transformed into an NFT. 'Fuzzy Penguin' successfully entered the toy industry by utilizing penguin intellectual property (IP). Displayed in about 2,000 Walmart stores, a leading U.S. retail chain, Fuzzy Penguin became a bestseller during the 2023 Black Friday season. It is characterized by attaching QR codes to toys, providing a kind of 'lifetime adoption certificate' for the penguin that can be met in the metaverse (extended virtual world). An online game is also planned for release this year. As of the 14th, the floor price (FP) of Fuzzy Penguin has risen 363% compared to the previous year. The NFT collection prices range from 19.69 to 10,000 Ethereum (approximately 693 million to 35.2 billion KRW). 'Lil Fuzzy,' a sub-line of Fuzzy Penguin, is also considered one of the most popular items on Opensea.

CEO Oh Tae-wan emphasized, "So far, most NFTs have failed to generate value beyond 'community.' If NFTs borrow technological elements from existing industries and services and are used in forms linked to physical assets, public interest in NFTs could be revived." Research Center Head Kim Ji-hye also said, "For NFTs to be sustainable, their usage must be expanded, and benefits and functions must be added to ensure sufficient usability."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.